The NFL and NFL Players Association (NFLPA) will further investigate the Carolina Panthers’ response to the head hits absorbed by quarterback Cam Newton in their season opener, contradicting the league’s stance on Friday that the medical staff had taken appropriate precautions.
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It’s being debated again after Newton took 17 hits, the second most of his career, in Thursday’s 21-20 loss at Denver in which the NFL MVP had 11 carries. I don’t think what they did was egregious; I just think they’re penalties.
Rivera’s update on Newton comes just days after he claimed that several of the hits on him should have been penalized and that he planned to send them to the league office for review. An Observer photograph shows Panthers tight end Greg Olsen yelling at Newton as the quarterback walks away from him. Cam Newton, who stayed on the field after all of the questionable hits, said he was not examined until after the game. Admittedly, the Panthers are a really good running team with three massive players who carry the ball, but in the Super Bowl we shut down their running game on first down (for the most part). He’s huge, but moves like a running back.
“During stoppage in play while on-field officials were in the process of administrating penalties, the unaffiliated neurotrauma consultant and team physician requested video from the spotters and reviewed the play”, the league said in a statement Friday.
“The NFL is committed to the proper application of the concussion protocol”, league spokesman Brian McCarthy said in a statement Sunday.
Olsen points to a play on Sunday where he felt New York Jets quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick got “brushed in the face” with a hand of a defensive player and drew a 15-yard penalty for roughing the passer nothing compared to the shots that Newton took against Denver. After Newton the Broncos face Andrew Luck, Andy Dalton and Jameis Winston. The rules should be the same for everyone, even a 6-foot-5, 245-pound signal caller to whom there’s really no comparison. Maybe we - fans and people like me who pay our bills, in part, because of this sport - aren’t cogs in a system that encourages young men to do disgusting things to themselves for the sake of our entertainment.
Rivera said Newton passed all of the tests.
“You’re not going to convince Cam to change the way he plays”.
“If what they did was illegal, then they should be treated accordingly”, Rivera said. “Anything that happens in the game that looks questionable, our doctor and the independent come together, they go and look at it immediately on instant replay and in this case, this happened”.
While we may never have answers to those questions, what we do know is that Newton was clearly showing some ill effects after being hit in the head for the fourth and final time.
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The Panthers didn’t get the calls in Denver, but after all this, officials may go back to protecting Newton like they did early in his career. He wants to be the guy with the ball.
